Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty ImagesWork continues today on the World Trade Center Memorial in New York City. The site called "Reflecting Absence" features the twin reflecting pools shaped in the footprints of the fallen twin towers and surrounded by a wall-like barrier listing the names of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the 2001 attacks and in the 1993 Trade Center bombing. It is set to open on the 10th anniversary of the 2001 attacks. At left is the 1,776-foot 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, that is scheduled to open in 2013.

NEW YORK — Port Authority commissioners authorized a $180 million increase in the cost of the World Trade Center PATH station and transit hub today, after an unusually contentious subcommittee meeting in which they expressed frustration and disagreement, and sharply questioned senior staff on where the money would come from.

The full board of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey took its unanimous vote after the subcommittee met, reauthorizing the hub project with a new maximum cost of $3.44 billion — up from a 2008 authorization of $3.26 billion.

At the earlier World Trade Center subcommittee meeting, commissioners reacted with uncharacteristic skepticism to a Port Authority staff request for the reauthorization. One commissioner, Henry Silverman of New York, noted the latest price tag would be 50 percent higher than the project’s first estimate, which preceded the 2008 authorization.

"We had a $2.2 billion train station that’s now a $3.4 billion train station," Silverman said.

His concern over cost conflicted with Commissioner David Steiner’s position that the money was secondary to the real and symbolic value of the transit hub, which will accommodate 250,000 PATH and New York City subway riders every day. Steiner said he had always viewed the hub as the "iconic" centerpiece of the redeveloped trade center site, even more so than 1 World Trade Center, the 1,776-foot office building formerly known as the Freedom Tower.

"I think the money is well worth it, and we should find a way to do it," he said.

Christopher Ward, the bistate agency’s executive director, said most of the additional $180 million will come from a contingency fund set aside specifically for the hub project. Ward said some also will come from a $600 million fund for the entire redevelopment, which also includes four office buildings, the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, a performing arts center and other elements. Estimates for the total cost of the redevelopment of the trade center site hover above $12 billion.

Commissioner Anthony Sartor, who chairs the trade center subcommittee, told Ward he wanted to see clear, up-to-date dollar figures at the panel’s March meeting.

"I would like to get a feel — not a feel, a true assessment — of what the costs are going to be for the hub and the rest of the project," Sartor said.

He further pressed Ward on the consequences of not reauthorizing the hub. Ward said that could jeopardize progress on the project, for which 94 percent of all contracts have been awarded.

Later, the full board approved the reauthorization, along with 20 other items, in a single, unanimous vote by all six New Jersey members and all four New Yorkers.

The unanimity was typical of the board’s way of doing business. Until Steiner voted against a $700,000 land deal last November, commissioners hadn’t cast a no vote in at least three years — making a string of more than 300 straight unanimous resolutions.

The commissioners’ candor and independence during the subcommittee meeting was striking in its departure from the norm. While commissioners have denied assertions they are rubber stamps, some have acknowledged dissenting views are often addressed outside of public view, a practice critics deride as undemocratic and counterproductive.